The Creed

As usual the Cross Country season presents us with a conflict of interests. Do we dress up and endulge in a fun night of trick o' treating or do we stay home and prepare for our League Finals Meet the following day. The coaches would hope the second option is the one chosen. To help you make that decision we have decided to hold our pre-race pasta dinner that evening at 8 PM. We will provide the address soon but here is what we know:

Our last FULL TEAM Saturday practice will be held this Saturday at Bonellin Park. We will be meeting at the BP parking lot at 7:30 AM and jumping into our cars en route to Bonelli Park. Practice shoudl begin shortly after eight. Immediately after practice the parents have put together a treat for the team. Tacos will be served for everyone and the team will be able to run free at the park for some much deserved 'free time'.

A strange day at Mt. SAC for the Braves. This year was our turn to run the afternoon races as Division 1 ran the morning races. Our Boys and Girls Freshmen and Sophomores started it off around 2 PM on a 1.8 mile course, a shortened version of the tradiitonal course due to safety concerns because of the heat. For many of our young runners this was their first time on the Mt. SAC course and the disapponitment was noticed when the announcement was made to shorten the course. Our second year members were looking to better their time from last year and our first year members wanted to see how they measured against the hilly course.

With only one race left after this invite the potential varsity members of both the boys and girls teams were out to defend their spot in the coveted top 7 for a shot at all league honors and a place on the CIF team.

The boys had a bitter sweet victory of sorts. Running their worst race of the season they were able to place third in our DII heat behing Rowland and Arroyo. Our number two time of hte day was run on the JV side and his presence on the varisty would have pushed us into second. Bad race and all we came away with our first ever boys team hardware at Mt. SAC. Congratulations boys on your hard earned plaque, get ready for your second crack at MT. SAC during CIF prelims.

The girlsalso had to deal with the full course on this warm day. With the top four members of the varsity team PR'ing they walked away happy knowing that improvement still lies ahead of them and the coming league finals meet will test their strength before CIF.

Great job TEAM thank you for all your support before, during and after the race.

The Braves were at Cerritos Regional Park this week to run the flat Bell Gardens Invitational. Usually run at Legg Lake in Whittier the race was moved to Cerritos Regional Park. A fun and fast race with lots of medals, a DJ and a good snack bar the Braves brought back plenty of hardware.

A great majority of the team PR'd in what will probably be their fastest time for the season as the only races we have left are on hilly courses. On the individual side, Sophomores Susie Garza and Oscar Varas won their respective Sophomore level races. It was their first individual wins on the cross country circuit. As a team the boys sophomore team brought back another title. The freshmen boys also had a strong day but their team place is not known as results are not up yet. Sophomore girls also had a strong day and may have won their race but again we are waiting on results. The freshmen girls also had a strong day in what could be a breakout race for those girls who showed their potential, we will be looking forward to seeing them develop over the next couple of years.

Great day for the Braves the team unity and dedication being shown is making believers of us all.

Results will be up as soon as they are posted somewhere hopefully soon.

Lets start off with the strong JV Grils team that took 1st place and will be doing battle with Covina at league finals for that League Championship. Each team has one win and it will come down to the last meet.

Boys JV were short handed. Sergio Serafin's absence pushed Juan Conde up to Varsity and an injury to Luis Lopez left the team down to of their top guys. They still pulled out a tough 2nd place and inched closer to Covina. Because of the points system in the Valle Vista League the two wins by Covina make them the League Champs but a strong performance by the Braves during league finals can help us top the Colts and end the season with a strong performance.

Girls Varsity had a tough outing. The young team faced the heat, the hills and three very strong opponents in Northview, Covina and San Dimas. They took a 4th place finish and hope to edge into thrid by League Finals to enter CIF prelims with some momentum. With two wins this leaves Northview as the League Champs and for league finals the CIF spots will be up for grabs.

The Boys Frosh/Soph team completed their 5th straight league win and tied up their second league title. They were short of a perfect score but were also missing leader Hugo Conde for this one. The Boys looked strong and will make a run for their 6th straight win during league finals and end a perfect season.

Boys Varsity had another tough race in front of them. They stuck together and despite the boys claiming they had a terrible race they put together a solid race and inched closer to Covina in the final score. The Varsity boys will look to bring Covina down suring league finals and what will probably be a gritty race of honor between two classy teams looking to have strong runs in the CIF post season this year.

Great Job Braves and Great job to the rest of the competitors in the Valle Vista League.

Just a reminder that the Braves will be running League Meet #2 at Schabarum Park in City of Industry/Puente Hills on Wednesday October 12th. All are welcome to come and show their support for the team. It should be an interesting race as the girls Varsity wil run full strength for the first time this season, they will be trying to move up in the standings and shwo they are ready for the last leg of the season. The young boys varsity will look to continue a series of strong performances and show that they too are ready for special things. Both JV teams will look to strengthen their performances but both boys and girls will have some key absences. The boys Frosh/Soph will look to get their 5th straight win in league making a run for their second straight league title. This job will become more difficult as the boys will at this level will also have some key losses but they will look to show that their strength is their depth.

FRIDAY NIGHT AT SIX BALDWIN PARK HIGH SCHOOL CAFETERIA PRE RACE PASTA DINNER SEE YOU THERE

As we begin to analyze injury cycles and how to prevent them we have come to the conclusion that a mileage log for our shoes is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Even when shoes do not appear to be worn, their internal structures have been worn down or broken down, compromising the health of our feet and legs. We would suggest that shoes be changed every 300 miles. However, we understand that it is not always possible to buy so many pairs of shoes on such a consistent basis. We would advise that you do not exceed 400 miles and in very extreme cases you should NEVER exceed 500 miles.

Yes there are runners that use their shoes for 1,000 miles or more but all of our team members are young runners that have at most run for four years of their life on a consistent basis. The lack of balance, strength and experience tends to lead to injury especially when the developing limbs are subjected to the stress of worn down down, broken down unbalanced shoes.

You can download the mileage log by clicking on the FILES link to the left where you will find a SHOE MILEAGE excel worksheet that looks like the image below. It is quite simple to fill out. All you must do is include the date and the approximate number of miles run in the shoes that day. I say approximate because on those days that you run for time and not miles you will need to estimate your pace to determine APPROXIMATELY how many miles you ran.

Shoe Mileage Log

An invitation has been sent out via Facebook to all alumni of our Cross country Program.

We hope that the alumni can join us during the 2011 League Finals at Bonelli Park on Tuesday November 1st at 2PM in a show of support and solidarity for our growing program. If you have any questions please feel free to contact any of the coaches.